Homelessness is getting out of the Administration's control.

PalmThe number of homeless people continues to rise in Mallorca – it should be noted that cages and caravans are included within the category of homelessness. From 2019 to 2023, the increase was 112%: five years ago there were 207 people, two years ago there were already 440, more than double, according to data from the Mallorcan Institute of Social Affairs (IMAS) – this figure is not exact, because it only includes people who are physically present.

The data is also outdated because the last count conducted by IMAS was in November 2023. "It was only done in Palma, for one night, and barely those people already registered with the Mobile Emergency Units (UME) were identified," complain sources from social action organizations. They believe, among other things, that the Administration is focusing solely on Palma. "If you end up on the street in any town, your only options are to sever all ties and go to Palma to queue at Ca l'Ardiaca, or there's not much else to do," they say.

Furthermore, they criticize the fact that the count does not categorize homeless people, as established by the classification system of the European Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA). "They're not interested in having the data either," they lament. This year, the Palma City Council has counted 156 caravans and 600 people living in settlements. However, sources within the municipal institution acknowledge that continuous monitoring is "complicated" because the settlements "constantly change location."

The problem is growing in a context where the government lacks up-to-date data and hasn't located all the settlements in the Balearic Islands, and social services are overwhelmed. In the Balearic Islands, tent encampments have already sprung up in the medians of highways and in public parks, among other places: a clear indication of the serious housing problem plaguing the region. In fact, Maria (a pseudonym), a 44-year-old woman who has been living for four months at the entrance to the Ma-19 highway towards Palma, explained to ARA Baleares that the Red Cross gave her a tent. "And I'm so lucky, because I had nothing," she said gratefully. It only fits a mattress, which she shares with her partner. These makeshift shelters are now even appearing in Nou Llevant, very close to Avenida de México, where apartments are being marketed for €995,000 on the Idealista platform. We must remember all the people living in caravans and also in structures like the old Palma prison, Son Sant Joan airport, the old cycling track in Campos, and the Can Rova settlements in Ibiza, which have been dismantled repeatedly, among other places. People rely on contacts they know are homeless to find a place to sleep. Joana (a pseudonym), a 65-year-old woman, has been living in an abandoned warehouse for a year thanks to a man she knew. She came to Mallorca from Ecuador 23 years ago and worked as a hotel chambermaid, but last year she didn't start the season because she was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. "I couldn't pay the rent and I left," she says. She doesn't want to specify where she lives, but the warehouse isn't in Palma, which confirms that homelessness isn't only present in the city, but also in other municipalities.

Joana, for her part, receives help from Cáritas, unlike Tomeu (a pseudonym), a 55-year-old Muslim man who lives in Les Sorts Park, in the Rafal neighborhood of Palma. He used to own an appliance store on Manacor Street, which went bankrupt. He says he was evicted from his apartment and saw that this section of the park was empty. He also knew someone who lived there. "I started clearing the weeds with a makeshift hoe I fashioned from a tree branch and a serrated knife," he explains.

After almost two years of living on the streets, he has grown accustomed to it, although he hopes to find an apartment soon. To sleep amidst the noise of cars passing less than 200 meters from his shack, he imagines he is at his home in Morocco, by the sea. "I transform the noise of the cars into the sound of the waves," he says, standing in the garden he has planted himself. He's used everything he's found on the street over the years to build a shack for shelter. The roof of his room is the liner of a plastic swimming pool. "That way, if it rains, I don't have to swim," he says.

No social services

She explains that she wants nothing to do with social services. "I feel like they're deceiving me. They play games, asking us questions in exchange for cookies," she complains. However, she is grateful to the neighbors, the people in the park, and the volunteers, such as those from the Proyecto Encuentro association who give her food. Many of the homeless people interviewed by ARA Baleares refuse to access social services. Sources from social organizations understand this rejection of the government and complain that "it doesn't respond to them." They add that public services make people in this situation wait for too long, so "they burn out."

For almost six years, Julià (a pseudonym), a 29-year-old from Bulgaria, has lived with his wife and three children in a settlement of nearly 50 people in Secar de la Real. He doesn't go to social services because he prefers to stay in his shack rather than move into an apartment he can't afford. When asked why he doesn't want their help, he answers simply: "I don't want problems with anyone, I want peace and quiet with my family."

The two young children, aged two and three, were born in the settlement. When they see their father chatting with strangers, they don't run away. This happens all day long with the children. They all sleep in a room that Julià built with wood and cardboard he found. He even put small stained-glass windows in the door that dominates the facade. The children's toys are scattered on the ground, and the woman is at work cleaning houses. This situation reflects how the profile of homeless people has also changed in the last two years. According to Teresa Riera, head of the Homeless and Housing program at Cáritas Mallorca, two years ago the majority of people living on the streets were men between 40 and 60 years old with drug addiction problems. But she emphasizes that currently, elderly people, even children and working people, are also found on the streets. The far right has spread a narrative that points to migrants as the main culprits for the overburdened social services. However, Riera points out that the majority of people who attend the Cáritas day center in Inca are Spanish.

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Riera warns that social services are "overwhelmed" and that professionals have a "huge" workload. "It's very frustrating when someone comes and you have no answers for them," she confesses. She explains that the time it takes for users to leave the organization's programs is getting longer and longer because they can't find housing alternatives. "Before, when they started, they were given a work and personal rebuilding plan, and once they found a job, it was relatively easy for them to start their lives over. But now they might find a job, but they remain homeless," she laments. In the Canary Islands, nothing guarantees access to housing anymore.